Bird’s Eye: A brutally warm winter for the skiers, but maybe that feels good to the cold-blooded among us. Huddle up to the warmth of your computer, and look at some snowcandy. 

* Auroras Spark Awe Across The North PhotoBlog (Thanks Don!)

* Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival 2012   The Big Picture

Harbin is the capital of Heilongjiang province, in northeastern China. It is nicknamed “Ice City” and aptly so for winter January temperatures that average minus 18 degrees Celsius, under the influence of the cold winter wind from Siberia. …. Harbin is one of the world’s four largest ice and snow festivals, along with Japan’s Sapporo Snow Festival, Canada’s Quebec City Winter Carnival and Norway’s Ski Festival

* Winter Arrives   Alan Taylor  In Focus  The Atlantic